Venus's Curse
by NotascrazyasI
Summary: An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet regardless of time, place or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but it will never least, that's what's said.But the truth is, The Red String of fate can be cut and-at least in my case-you may never have one to begin with.Why can I see the Strings?Is it just to torment me because I don't have one?
1. My fratello's an idiot (The Strings)

_**Cupid's Curse**_

_**So this is a random idea that popped into my head at a totally unrelated point in time. I'm not really sure where it came from. Well, that's just the beauty of my mind, I guess~**_

_**I don't own Hetalia~**_

Morning light burned through the thin layers of skin that covered my eyes, turning the precious darkness red and shattering my dreams. I must not have closed the blinds before I had gone to sleep. Something I would damn well not forget again.

The details of my dream were already slipping from my memory but I could still grasp enough for me to wish I had never woken up. There had been someone with me... Someone my String led to.

My String. The thought made me want to laugh and cry at the same time.

Slowly, I cracked my eyes opened and raised my left hand over my face, just to check. I already knew it would be missing, just as it had every morning of my life. My pinkie lacked a String -red or otherwise- and I felt my mood sink back to its normal level.

Such a mood was only made worst when my fratello came running into my room and jumped onto my bed like he was an eight-year-old again. There was another mistake I wouldn't be making again: forgetting to lock my door.

"Buongiorno fratello~" He said, leaning over me so that I got a clear view of his excited face and his wide amber eyes. The eyes that made older girls squeal.

I rolled over, not wanting to face his radiance so early in the morning. Just looking at him sometimes made my eyes ache, especially on mornings such as then where I just wanted to crawl in a hole and be left alone -and lonely- for the rest of my life.

What was the point if nobody was meant for me anyway?

Except fratellino wasn't deterred. Instead he asked his usual question. The one that made my chest tighten painfully each time he asked it -which was everyday. "Has fratello's String appeared yet?"

I, of course, responded the same way I always did; I covered my face with a pillow to hide my misery and explained how it didn't work that way. "The Red String of Fate doesn't just appear if you wish hard enough, fratellino. This isn't a Fairytail. You're born with it and you die with it. If you don't have one... then you don't have a destined true love."

I removed the pillow to see how he was taking it only to find him staring out the window a some ladybug trying to get inside.

In that moment, I wished I had a flyswatter.

"Feliciano!" I exclaimed, chucking my pillow at him to get his attention. "Were you even listening?!" The answer to that question was obvious from the way he jumped and looked over sheepishly.

Before I could start yelling at him though, he attempted to distract me with another repeated question. "Where does mine lead to, fratello? Who am I destined to be with?"

I sighed irritably, realizing that today was going to be one of _those _days. The days where fratellino won't leave me alone until I answered whatever questions popped into his brain. It didn't even matter if he had already asked it before.

"I already told you that I don't know." When he didn't appear to accept my answer, I gave him the same explanation I gave him each time he asked this question. "Your String is too long right now. Your destined lover is far away. When you get closer to your destined time, your String will get shorter, pulling you towards them."

"Except if my String gets cut, right?" He asked.

I was shocked. Apparently, fratellino had been listening more than I thought. Maybe he just liked to have me talk about the Strings and his destined partner.

"Well, yeah, but it's very unlikely to have your String cut, unless someone deliberately cuts it." I explained slowly, hoping I wouldn't have to go over this again with him. Thinking about the Strings and my lack of one was already painful enough.

"What happens then?" He pressed, tilting his head to the side with genuine curiosity. Apparently, he really hadn't been listening.

I growled out, "You should know this already, fratellino. Haven't you listened to _anything _I've said?!" I was sick of answering his questions over and over again.

Feliciano held up his left hand to the light filtering through my window as if he might be able to see what I saw.

The String around his pinkie always made me feel terribly lonely but also happy, knowing that fratellino had someone to watch over him later on in life. I thanked God that it wouldn't be me.

"I just want to know all the details. I want to know why fratello doesn't have a String, even though he has a destined partner out there." Fratellino tried explaining for once. At least he'd only have to say it this one time.

I held back a snort. It was just like fratellino to be so optimistic about such a lost cause. He was just built that way.

Perhaps when I was a kid -before I really understood what the Red Strings on everyone else's fingers meant- I had been like that too. Now, years of knowing that no matter who I dated or fell in love with, they would always have someone else and I was born to be alone had turned me bitter and irritable.

"Feli I-" He didn't let me finish.

"What happens if my String gets cut?" He asked, repeating his earlier question.

I sighed. "If your String gets cut it means that something drastic has happened between you two, to the point that it's messed with destiny. Like say, a sudden death of the other or a giant fight between the two of you."

Then Feli smiled, ruining the serious moment. "But fratello can fix it, right?"

Words that fratellino shouldn't hear bubbled up but I bit my lip to hold them back. 'Not if he's dead'. It wasn't exactly true either, but that was a little too complicated for Feli to understand.

I tried to smile and nod at my fratello. "Si. I can mend your String if something happens." It was truly the only good thing about my 'power'. It was also the most painful.

Fratellino's smile faded. "That's not the only thing fratello can do, is it?" He asked quietly.

My own pitiful excuse for a smile dropped off at the thought. Grandpa had already told me everything I could do a long time ago, before he disappeared... I shook my head quickly, not wanting to think about the whole story behind our current location.

"No. I can do other things as well." I held my breath, silently begging for him to leave that subject alone.

For once, he actually did. He smiled at me once again. "Do all Strings look the same?"

I was surprised once again by my brother's unusual assortment of questions. This was a question he had never asked before. I couldn't remember the last time he asked a new question.

"No." I said after thinking it over. "They're all different depending on the two people and the romance they will have."

His eyes practically shined then. "What does my String look like, Lovino?"

Gently, I reached out a hand and touched the String that was invisible to everyone but me. A wry smile made its way to my lips. There was no fear of me breaking it, that was for damn sure.

"It's very thick." I said, not telling him what that meant. I wasn't his personal fortune-teller. "But it's also very soft. Plus, it's _bright _red." I tried not to gag as I remembered my very first lesson about the Strings.

Grandpa knew all about the Strings. He was the one that taught me in the first place. It should've seemed odd to me but I had never really thought about it all that much. He was Grandpa, he just knew. I was a kid, I wasn't going to question him about something like that.

My first lesson -after Grandpa realized that I could see the Red Strings of Fate- was about what the appearance of a String meant. That's how I knew that fratellino's future partner would be good for him. The String told me.

Grandpa gave me four specific characteristics to look for: color, thickness, texture and length. Then he told me the basics of each. He had used Feli as an example so I could understand better.

Feli's String was bright red, which as my grandfather had told me apparently meant he and his partner would have a very active sex life. This was _not _something you wanted to know about your brother when you were only fucking seven, believe me. That being the first thing he taught me about my brother was truly horrifying. Though it was entertaining when I looked at Grandpa's String and noticed that it was a lighter shade of red. My womanizer grandfather wouldn't get as much romance as he would be expecting.

Fratellino's String was very thick which meant (surprise, surprise) how strong their bond will be. This was one of the best things Grandpa could've told me (definitely better than learning about his _sex life_). I could've tripped over his String and it wouldn't have been damaged at all. There were other Strings that were so delicate I couldn't even touch them without them breaking.

Soft. His String was crazy soft. Another reason why I couldn't wait for his String to shorten. It meant that whoever Feli would end up with they would treat him gently. They would be kind and trustworthy and sweet to him. Well, I couldn't be certain about that last part but I would make sure of it myself. I had connections -even at just fifteen. I still knew that he would be gentle with him, which was a good sign for the other three.

The last one -length- was exactly as I had told fratellino before. His String was too long for me to follow. Even when Grandpa told me this, I had dragged Feli along with me so that I could follow it anyway for as far as I dared. We headed North West-ish for about an hour before Grandpa found us and dragged us back home. I was scolded for running off, but he also asked me where I thought it led. I told him it wasn't in Italia and that was all I knew.

I sighed and then groaned once again. I replaced the pillow onto my face. My fratello would be leaving Italia -and me- behind.

"Fratello?" He asked, tapping my ear (the only thing he could see of my face) and tugging at the pillow. "Is something wrong, fratello?"

I didn't want to talk about it, least of all with Feli. "Go away Feli." Knowing that this wouldn't work on my fratello my mind raced for an excuse to get him out of my room and convince him to leave me alone for at least right then.

"Fratello-"

"I'm hungry, Feli." It was only three words but it was more than enough to distract him.

"I'll go make fratello some breakfast, then~ Eggs or pasta~?" He wasn't joking. It had been a long time since I learned that fratellino didn't joke about pasta and it had been just as long since he learned that I wouldn't eat pasta for breakfast. Thus, a compromise was formed: he would still give me the option while I had the choice of which to take.

"Eggs, per favore." I said, smiling at the memory.

"Okay~" He replied just as cheerfully as he always was when pasta came into the picture. The constant cheerfulness was cute but also worrisome. He had a bad habit of not taking things seriously enough.

I heard his footsteps skipping out of the room and I batted away the pillow still blocking my face. My dark blue ceiling stared back at me, accusing me for not remembering all that Grandpa taught me. I glared back at it.

Grandpa told me that just because the same four features will always be there, didn't mean that there weren't others that also told you things about a couple's relationship. There were too many signs out there to teach me, he had said, but if I wanted to find out anything about an odd characteristic all I needed to do was touch the String and my 'gift' would tell me the rest.

I hadn't touched fratellino's String in a long time (it no longer tangled up the inside of the house. It was getting shorter.) and I had almost forgotten the last hint towards his destined lover. The core of his String -the part I wouldn't be able to see from just glancing at it- was blue.

My fratello was gay.

Privacy in this family was so hard to come by nowadays. Especially now that we were a family of two.

Before my musings could be finished, I heard the TV in the next room click on. It was the eight o'clock news. One of the things I hated most in this world, other than potatoes and chickens (Don't ask).

'Turn it off, Feli' hovered on my tongue, about to be released when I recognized a name. I hadn't heard the name that often but I still knew exactly who it belonged to.

I was in the living room in seconds.

Luckily, I was in time to hear the rest of what the big-breasted news lady was reporting. "That's right, folks. Rome will be grieving tomorrow. Julius Vargas -the love psychic that went missing nearly two years ago- will officially be considered dead. It'll be a sad day indeed. Especially for his two remaining heirs, his two grandchildren. "

I stiffened once she mentioned Feli and I. Instantly, I despised this Lesley person. I didn't want her talking about my brother and I as if she knew what was going on. "Shut up." I growled.

"What did you say, fratello?" Feli asked, walking out of the kitchen. It was just like him not to be listening to anything else as he cooked. It was a good thing though. I didn't want him to hear this.

"Nothing." I replied, nonchalantly switching the channel to some cooking show. "Nothing at all."

He accepted it and ran off to finish our breakfast.

After he was gone, I switched the channel back but they had already moved on to something else. I turned it off completely and sat down heavily on the couch, thinking about everything that had happened.

I couldn't believe it had already been two years. It would be way too cliche to say that it felt like just yesterday that Feli and I were put in Dane's Home for Troubled Children, but that was how it felt.

Two years was a long time. Most of the kids had gotten too old and were kicked out. Somewhere, Peter was probably still sleeping and I was sure Ravis was reading a book in his room this early in the morning. He didn't usually come out until much later (he was way too shy to be living in a group home). They were both younger than us, having three years left to live here while I was just a year under the age limit now.

Tomorrow, Grandpa's lawyer was coming to read his will. Somewhere in it, Grandpa would have set us up a place to live instead of us going to an actual orphanage. It was Grandpa's greatest fear to have us put in to one since he seemed to have some bad experiences with being in the system. I wasn't sure where we were going but I knew Grandpa had set up a place for us.

I shook away such thoughts and took six steps to the kitchen door. Then suddenly, I was falling forward and my hands were outstretched to keep myself from breaking my face. I landed ungracefully as a heap of limbs on the floor. The first thing I did when I regained my senses was search for what tripped me.

It was Feli's String, but unlike the day before it was pulled taut for the first time ever. The time where my fratello would be leaving Italia was coming sooner than I had thought.

"Ow..." I muttered, pushing myself back to my knees. My wrist began to throb but I could tell that it wasn't broken. Nothing was really hurt- except for my pride.

"Lovino, are you okay?" Feli called from the kitchen. He must've heard my fall, it was loud enough.

Instead of worrying him I forced myself back to my feet and called out that I was fine. Standing up made black spots dance across my vision though I wasn't worried about a head injury. I hadn't hit my head.

The world steadied and I headed into the large kitchen after my brother. It was like a flash of salmon. The walls, the counters, nearly everything was painted salmon. Only the cabinets -cherry it appeared- was safe from the ugly pink color. It was an instant reminder as to why I stayed out of 'Santa's Workshop'.

Feli was at the stove, scrambling my eggs while a pot of water simmered. He was obviously cooking himself some pasta, which didn't seem appropriate first thing in the morning but I didn't dare tell him not to eat it. Grandpa didn't even get between Feli and his Pasta. Bad shit happened when you did.

I stared at his pinkie as he worked, wondering whether I'll follow him when leaves or not. He was the only family I had left. I had nothing keeping me in Rome either. If I wanted to, I could go with him.

My gaze raised to his face but he wan't looking at me. He was transfixed on the eggs so that they didn't burn or get overcooked. He was always so serious about cooking. If you could call it serious, that is.

"Where do you think your String leads?" I asked him, leaning against the doorframe and nursing my swore wrist. He didn't look up from his cooking.

"I don't care." He replied cheerfully. "As long as it's near fratello's destined lover I'll be happy~"

Fratello, I thought glumly, you're too cheerful.

-Skippy-

"Come on inside, Mr. Edelstein~" Feli greeted the man cheerfully while I sulked on the couch. My chest ached.

Today, Grandpa was considered dead by everyone. This young looking guy was giving away all of his things, not even considering that Grandpa could still be alive. Everyone was just assuming -giving up- but I knew better than them. Even if I didn't know _how _I knew, it was like how I saw the Strings. I just knew he was still alive somewhere, even if no one else seemed to.

"Thank you, Feliciano." Roderich Edelstein replied, his accented voice (he was from Austria I think) was politely cold. When he looked over at me, he took in my crossed arms and sour expression with a sigh. He already knew how this was going to go, just as I did.

"Hello, Lovino." He said while I just glared. He didn't try anything else, just sat down on the armchair across from me. Feli sat beside me on the couch.

"Let's just get down to business, shall we?" He asked, adjusting his glasses and peering at me expectantly.

"Sure." I replied curtly.

His next words were long and boring but the gist of it was that Grandpa had left us everything but a few things that weren't really important. He also spent nearly ten minutes explaining that we wouldn't be allowed most of Grandpa's money until we were old enough and by default, supposedly responsible enough to handle it all. Until then, we would be given a monthly allowance of about two hundred dollars.

The worst news was last to come though, a smart choice on his part.

"Your grandfather struggled to keep you both out of an orphanage. He contacted one of his best friends and his friend agreed to take both of you in, despite him having two grandchildren of his own." He used the voice that adults used when they expected you to be boiling over with gratitude.

I blinked once before I let myself relax. Grandpa had set things up so we wouldn't get separated like you always hear siblings in the system do.

But Mr. Edelstein wasn't done yet. "Unfortunately his friend recently moved. The plane ticket has been covered and everything has been prepared for your arrival. All you need to do is pack your things and get on that plane." His voice had suddenly turned too cheerful. Something had to be up.

I was quick to notice the lack of sufficient information. "Wait, a plane? Where did they move to?"

I knew I had him when he flinched at my barely concealed accusation. "Well..." He was hesitant to tell me and I knew I wouldn't like the answer. "As of now, they are living in Spain"

He had every reason to try to hide this information from me.

"_What_?!" I shouted, leaping to my feet with a creak of protest from the worn couch. "No way! I'm _not _going _there_!"

Before he or my fratello could even think of something clever to say, I shot him my best glare and stomped out of the room, shouting over my shoulder as I went, "You can just tell Grandpa's friend to go screw himself, because there's no way in hell I'm moving to Spain!"

Yet somehow, despite my protest for the rest of the day, I still ended up at the airport with my fratello the very next week. Oh, how destiny hated me.

_**Announcer: The debut for Cupid's Curse is finally over~! So what do you think folks, will there be a followup chapter? That's up to all of you! Send in your thoughts and opinions of this chapter and most likely there will be more-!**_

_**Me: Hold up. There's gonna be more anyway. We -meaning me- would just prefer it if they reviewed. It's not like the whole story's gonna depend on their reviews.**_

_**Announcer: You're not gonna get a lot of reviews that way.**_

_**Me: *Shrugs* I don't get a lot of reviews anyway.**_

_**Anyway~ Thanks for reading! I really like this story so far, it was REALLY fun to write~ I hope you had fun reading it and I'll see some of y'all in the next chapter! Ciao~**_

_**KIWI\(*0*)/**_


	2. Fuck you, Spain! (Damned Strings)

_**And I'm back! Sorry for the very, very long wait! I just really haven't been in the mood for writing much lately, so I apologize. Anyway, I'm kicking myself in the ass and working on this chapter! BE GRATEFUL!**_

The plane ride wasn't terrible. It was actually exciting for this was my first time (that I could remember) flying. It was made even better when my stupid fratello passed out in the aisle seat, leaving me the window to stare out of in quiet peace. The most beautiful view was the sea, stretching on forever before the tip of the plane. I relished in the silence.

Really, the only thing that soured the experience was the destination. Spain. I'd love to be able to have this entire character building background with the country which gave birth to my deep hatred for the place, like that was where my parents died and now whenever I thought of the country it reminded me of that day. I would _love_ to have a story like that in my back pocket for this exact situation. If I did, I knew I could've stayed in Italia. Yeah, not even Grandpa himself would've forced me to go to that damned country. That's why I wished I had an excuse like that.

No, the real reason behind my reluctance had to do with (surprise, surprise) the Strings. It seemed like everything came back to those stupid scraps of yarn.

Spain was -is- a crowded place, especially known for passion. Lots of people plus lots of love of course means more Strings for me to trip on. I hated tripping on Strings. The stares I'd always get, the glimpse into some random person's love live. I hated them all. Spain was someone like me's (if there was someone) worst nightmare.

About a half hour before the flight was over, turbulence shook the plane and woke my fratello up. That was the mark of the beginning of a very bad descent. His voice reached my ears, bubbling on about whatever the hell he had fallen asleep talking about. It's as if he had just been put on pause and someone (god, the universe, whoever hated me most in this world) had just pressed play.

"-and bella donne of course!" He finished. When he said stuff like this, it made me want to just blurt out, 'you're going to be with a fucking guy! You're gay!' Perhaps he would believe me, perhaps he wouldn't. It's always been hard to tell these kind of things with my brother.

Before he even had the chance to start another spiel, a voice announced the beginning of our descent to all and I buckled up.

-Skippy-

**Vargas**

The sign clearly displayed my fratello and my last name in bold, masculine print. It matched the boy that held up the sign. Though he couldn't be much older than us, he had probably double our muscle mass combined. His hair was straight blonde, the stereotypical yellowish blonde color, and slicked back like any douchebag I've ever seen on TV. Watered down blue eyes stared back at us as we walked towards him.

"Feliciano and Lovino?" He asked, a gruff German accent announcing his roots. It was actually kind of unsettling.

"Si!" Feli cheered, running forward ahead of me to greet the new man. Without his support I only lasted a few steps before an unnoticed String caught on my foot and I tumbled. My hands were there to catch me again, while I got the quickest flash of a couple embracing. Dammit...

Pushing myself back to my feet, I stared at the ground as I made my way after my idiota of a brother. I won't deny that it hurt a bit that he had left me so easily to trip over the strings, but I was a master of hiding my hurt and just glared at the new face. "Who're you?"

He, having been able to hold off my fratello from his ciao kisses, glanced over at me. His eyes were rather hard, and not very friendly. "I'm Ludwig. My Grandfather asked me to pick you up." After that, he continued to talk, introducing himself or something equally boring, but I wasn't paying attention. My eyes drifted down to his string and then widened considerably.

No... Way...

"We should be going now. Grandfather wanted us back as soon as possible." That same gruff voice slipped through my shock riddled mind.

A warm hand wrapped around my own, starting to drag me away. It was too familiar to startle, unlike Ludwig's voice. The kind of familiarity that came from waking up each morning with that same hand grabbing onto my own. Whether to console me for a dream that was too good to be true or a nightmare of my obvious future.

I stared at the back of my brother's neck, before another thick chord sent me to the ground once again.

_I fucking hate Spain._

-Skippy Again-

The room wasn't as big as back home. The bed wasn't quite as large either. Even the furnishing wasn't anywhere near as grand as it was back at the manor. Though, I knew I shouldn't judge the place in such a ass-y way, for it was actually huge compared to what people are used to. The man who owned this house was rich.

Just not as rich as Grandpa.

There wasn't really a theme to the room. Splashes of colors from all parts of the visible spectrum filled the room. The bed was a deep blue, the floor made from an ash tree, the walls were red. It was as if someone had mixed up a whole bunch of different colored paintball and just let it rip on the room. Somehow though, it actually looked kinda cool...

I sighed and fell back against the mattress, wilting into it.

Once again, I'd had that dream. Except, it was getting sharper, more easy to remember. Some would think that'd make it better. It didn't.

There was no doubt about it.I had a String and it had actually led to someone. I couldn't remember who it was or any defining feature of them. They were like a blob, just barely in my minds eye, with my String wrapped around their pinkie. Such a torturous dream made my mood all the worse, as usual. Another thing out of order had my heart squeezing painfully in my chest.

"Feli..."

For the first time in years, I had woken up to my own leisure. There had been no enthusiastic body jumping on top of mine, no obnoxious call of my name too hyper to be normal, no overwhelming smell of tomatoes and carbohydrates. There was absolutely no sign of my fratello.

The worst part was, I knew where he would be.

And so, with a growling stomach and a damned heavy heart, I stumbled my way out of the room and tried to find my way towards a kitchen or something. Anywhere where there might be something edible.

Thus was the beginning of my exploration of the goddamn labyrinthe house. It took me hours to find that damned kitchen. _Hours._ There was one thought in my mind throughout the torturous walk.

_They better have fucking tomatoes._

_**I'm sorry it's so short... I'll try to make it up to you by getting another chapter out **_**really _soon~! Deal~? _**_  
_

**_Now, a few more quick words from the author: Guys, I really love you. I mean, really, _really, _love you! This is why: About an hour and a half after I posted the first chapter, I came back and BAM! there was already four reviews! I've never had that many reviews the day I post something! Then, I went off to play a video game (can't remember what) and I came back, eh, maybe two hours. 10 REVIEWS! That seriously made my day right there. The next day of school, I was screaming my ass off and bragging to my friends! If I get that many reviews for this chapter, I'll... I don't know... Write the tenth reviewer a story of their choice~! How 'bout that? Makes you wanna review now?_**

**_I LOVE YOU GUYS!_**

**_KIWI \(*0*)/_**


	3. It's a dream Of course (A string?)

_**Hey, look at me~ I'm actually getting it out there~ ^^ And this is the first time we're seeing who has Roma's string~ Yay!**_

_**Heh, I forgot I only have two chapters in this~ ^^" I'll get to writing.**_

_**Okay, and lastly, I'll say this right now, my idea changed for this entire story which is why the name changed, but that's not the only change. For one, the ending of the last chapter made it sound as though he eventually reaches the kitchen. He does not. Also, it sounds like he had just had a dream about his Strings. He didn't. So, just scratch that out of your head and we can continue on~**_

_**Yeah, I'm a lazy mofo who doesn't want to change the end of the last chapter. Deal with it.**_

After a quite a few minutes of walking (well, more like stumbling for I was still basically asleep), I was already taking back what I had thought before. Despite the small room I had opened my eyes to, the house was huge. Perhaps they had given me their smallest room out of spite. They hadn't seemed very happy with me when I had arrived.

Anyway, the point is, I was wrong. The house was huge. I'd call it a maze had I actually believed there was an end to all these damned corridors. But, with a growing sense of dread, I came to the conclusion that there wasn't. With each appearance of an already repeated door, my feeling of running in circles grew, except that was impossible. To move in a circle, you actually have to turn first. However... perhaps I had. The corridor didn't seem to tilt but I was still half asleep, still stumbled every other step when I didn't watch my feet well enough. This entire place could be one big donut shaped trap.

I had to get out. One of the doors had to lead out of the endless corridor. I had avoided opening them until now out of courtesy, but fuck that!

The doorknobs were brass, for which I felt no smugness over. Grandfather was the flashy one, filling our house with godly statues and gold leaf and paintings that were created by someone who had died before he was even born. I'd never liked the thought of living in a house of gold. That was why I was glad that I wouldn't be stuck living in a house (hellhole labyrinth) with that showy kind of millionaire.

Perhaps I should've been more thoughtful in my previous guessing. Out of my brother and I, I was the one that got the higher grades, the one with more common sense. Really, I should've known. Donut-shaped hallway? Seriously? It was so obvious that, when I found it out later, I would be quite ashamed that I hadn't guessed the answer sooner. The answer that still eluded my mind as the floor dropped out beneath me the moment my fingers brushed the polished brass.

-Small skippy-

"Lovi~" A hand brushed across my cheek, startling me out of my terror. The way it was incredibly warm and gentle, though it was slightly calloused, had the fear completely fading away. It was slightly grimy though, as if it had been digging through earth. I felt the dirt brush my face and fall back to the ground, where I could only image it came from in the first place.

As an understandable instinct, my eyes had squeezed shut at the sensation of falling into nothingness, but with such a calming caress and gentle tone working to soothe me, I worked on ridding my shoulders of the little bit of tension left. To do so, I couldn't open my eyes and instead focused on that hand and anything else I could gather from the person before me and my current situation.

First, my surroundings: Warmth scorched into my scalp, while merely brushing the rest of my face with the danger of a burn. A nice sensation -though there was the danger mentioned before- but the light feeling on my face was razerblades compared to the hand cupping my quickly flushing cheek. This was coupled with something bright staining my eyelids red. I wasn't an idiot. It was obviously sunny.

The pleasantness of this scene didn't end there. Two scents reached my nose from where I stood. One was a mixture of spices and perhaps body wash. It was pleasing and came from the miniature sun before me. The other, a little less potent than the first -wafted on the wind, practically the air itself. It brought up a memory I had stashed far away in the recesses of my mind. Madre had a garden... She used to hand me tomatoes and I'd put them in a basket for dinner. Only about half made it into the basket. So, we were in a garden full of tomatoes?

The last thing I focused on before opening my eyes was the way the voice sounded. Warm, masculine, gentle. When I had been so tempted to shout to my brother his future sexuality, I had absolutely no idea of my own. I didn't even want to think of it. Still, the voice that practically cooed my name before obviously belonged to the same gender as myself.

Slowly, I allowed my eyes to drift open, met a first by lances of light frying my retina. Immediately I squinted my eyes almost completely closed again, protecting them from the assault. With a murmured oath, I tried it again, much more hesitantly.

The world was bright, the sun not giving up its constant fight with the atmosphere. It was hard to get my eyes to focus. The face so close to mine made this feat easier.

Now, fratellino and I are naturally tanned and we used to get quite a bit of attention because of it. We didn't spend as much time outdoors as most people imagined. However, this man, he was clearly someone who spent a lot of time in the sun. Small, so much so they almost went unnoticed, freckles spotted the bridge of his nose, more than likely caused by the gigantic ball of gas above our heads. His skin was stained a darker color than mine, an attractive color that made me slightly angered as I thought of all the attention he must get for it.

Being a guy, it took a lot out of me to think the truth. This sunkissed man was gorgeous. Not only was he tanned, but his eyes... goddamn his eyes! A color that resembled emeralds, maybe jade. Anything that was green and perfect. Perfect. That just about summed him up. His skin, his eyes, his measurements, his smile and his hair that was much too dark for his appearance of spending time in the sun.

My cheeks burned thanks to the girly thoughts. If this man could read the things that flickered through my brain, I would be so utterly screwed. How I wished to just banish them as they threatened to overwhelm me.

"Lovi? Are you okay? You aren't saying anything." His voice was light and kind and heavily accented. All of which matched his appearance with such accuracy, it must have been preplanned. He was obviously Spanish thanks to both factors (appearance and accent). His words though, were laced with concern. For me...? "Please say something." Okay, obviously he was worried about me.

Deciding I wanted to be 100% truthful with this godly man, I assessed my current state as objectively as I could. My heart had calmed down considerably in comparison to before, yet it was still pounding slightly against my ribcage. However, I could not take this as an unbiased show of my condition. This man had too huge of an impact on me, like how the cheek he still pressed his hand to was tingling as well as flaming. I wasn't shaking though, nor was I gasping for breath and sinking to the ground in panic. Truthfully, the terror of falling straight into darkness was probably gone.

And so, I answered honestly, "I'm fine, now at least."

A large grin spread spread across the man's lips, larger than his previous hopeful smile. Obviously my answer pleased him something I couldn't understand. This man who was sending happy tingles through me just by his smile seemed to actually... care. This was so messed up. The Spanish man -or was he merely a teen? His face seemed rather young- reminded me of Angelo back in Italy.

Angelo was a cute blonde who was one of the only other twins at Feli's and my old school. He and his sister were quite popular for Freshmen. The blonde could get even more wistful sighs than my brother could get squeals. Still, he was dating a brunette Junior and completely off-limits. I felt like the bookworm silently crushing on the jock that was so out of my reach. That was the difference between this man and I.

Well, that was just about as depressing as the St-

Strings?

Suddenly, I looked down at my left hand. Already, I knew this was hopeless, simply wishful thinking. The slight tightness around my pinky, that barely-there feeling of something was completely imagined. Looking down was something I couldn't help though. It was like sticking my hands in my pockets when I entered a grocery store because Nonno trained us to not touch anything.

My heart stopped. Just a for a moment.

There was a slight chuckle from the brunette before me. "Must you always act so surprised?" He asked, words going unnoticed by me. Perhaps that was a good thing. Had I actually heard him, I might've completely drowned in confusion.

What was going on? This didn't make any sense. There had never ever been anything there, anything to lay my eyes on. Except... right then, it felt like it had always been there. That red String that had always taunted and hidden from me, seemed oddly familiar.

All I could choke out was, "How?"

Again, there was that chuckle sounding before me. The hand was gone now, from my face at least. Now, I saw it close around the hand I gaped at, felt its warmth around mine. I watched as he brought it close to his face and kissed my hated last finger. "Did you really think it didn't exist?"

His voice was soothing in its accented way. I couldn't help but relax slightly. Once more, I found myself unable to lie to this man. Besides, there was no to reason to be dishonest about something like this when he so obviously knew about the red String that had never been there before. "It's hard to believe in something you can't see." It was from this same philosophy that I was atheist.

For some reason, the older teen's dark eyebrows pulled together and his small smile melted into a frown. It was an expression that in no way fit the face that I had already memorized, an expression that also brought great curiosity. What was more confusing though was the shift in emotions had my heart squeezing painfully in my chest, no physical explanation obvious.

How could a man I didn't know give me something so close to a broken heart simply by looking just slightly upset? It didn't make sense. None of this made any sense.

I tried to think of what I might've said to upset him, so I could apologize of course. After this thought, I mentally slapped myself. Apologize? What was happening to me?!

"'Something you can't see'?" His words made me focus back on him.

His left hand, the one that wasn't holding my hand close to his face moved, catching my gaze upwards. That tanned hand drifted up to his neck and wrapped around the small figurine that dangled from a chain. I hadn't noticed it before since it had been under his scarlet shirt. Now that I did see it, my eyes stretched wide. For him being Spanish, it surprised me when I recognized what the figurine was.

"Is that Apollo?"

At my words, he started and let go of the small god, which gave me the perfect chance to grab it and pull the sculpted gold down to face level. The chain was so long it didn't make any change in his neck position. He was tall too, compared to my five six.

"Si." He mumbled sheepishly. The man acted as if he was embarrassed to be caught with a Roman god hanging below his throat. That was quite understandable, for I couldn't imagine a single reason to have a god that so obviously didn't exist around ones neck. Besides, he was Spanish, not Italian. It didn't make sense.

Then again, that wasn't the only weird thing about it. Really, I was more than confused at that point. Sure, I could understand him choosing someone like Jupiter or perhaps Ceres considering his obvious hobby of growing fruits. He simply didn't seem the type ti worship the god of the prophet, music and all that he was.

"What're you doing with a stupid thing like that?" I asked, not bothering to hold back my disdain for a religion that seemed to consist of ridiculous stories or magical beings doing more human things than their power suggested. Even my grandfather, who in his job proclaimed himself a son of a god used to laugh at the myths he told me constantly as a child.

I realized the error of my words as panic filled his gem-like orbs, stretching them wider as I saw the white of his eyes. "Lovi!" His voice was sharper than I had ever heard before, than I had ever expected to hear. "Do not insult Apollo, ever!"

The first signs of my usual anger started to appear. I felt the beginning of an angry flush burning my cheeks, my heart trying harder to pump my blood through my body. However, it wasn't actually anger I felt, but flaming embarrassment and mortification at being yelled at for something I couldn't fathom as wrong. And then everything just started adding up and then I got angry. First, clenching my fists until my nails dug into my skin and then pounding them against the stranger's chest.

"Who are you anyway?! Why do you know my name?! What is going on?! How the hell do you know me?!" There were other questions, but to his great embarrassment, tears were flooding to his eyes, cutting him off as he looked quickly away, hiding the mortifying weakness.

As my misplaced anger into him, he blinked a few extra times, like a light might when a system was restarting. Obviously, my words had struck him. "A-ay..." At that, he had rebooted. "Lo siento, Lovi. I had forgotten... It's hard to remember that you don't." While his words confused the hell out of me, he seemed to finally get his thoughts together.

A tanned hand begged for my own, stuck out towards me in a common gesture of greeting. "Soy Antonio Fernández Carriedo." My eyes lifted from his hand to see him, surprise surprise, smiling at me in that stunning -seriously disarming- way of his.

Thanks to that damn look, I couldn't quite look at his face and I stumbled over my words as well. "E-er. Sono Lovino Vargas." Not that he didn't know that.

"Si. I know."

_"How?!_ I don't know you!" Again, I exploded just a bit. My frustration was getting the better of me.

For the first time, I managed to look up his face again. As off putting as his smile was, I was simply stunned when I saw his face drawn in an angry frown. Angry. This man who's face wasn't even fit for sadness couldn't possibly hold such an expression. However, there was no denying this emotion. It filled his face from the way his brows angled down over his eyes and a flame danced in his seemingly brighter eyes.

I almost thought he'd be too angry to answer, but after a moment he seemed to calm down and replied to my question. "I knew you a long time ago. You wouldn't remember me."

Such words were almost depressingly familiar. To not be remembered, to not matter in the long run. It resonated way too well with my own situation and the fact that I was the one forgetting...

_Mi dispiace_. It was the second time that this man had brought out that inexperienced urge to apologize. What could possibly be so special about Antonio that he had a brat like myself apologetic? Ha, the only explanation that made sense was magic. To me, that seemed the only answer. Even magic couldn't keep me from biting back this disgustingly heartfelt phrase.

There was something still knocking at my brain that I didn't attempt to hold back "But-"

His movement was so sudden, I couldn't react in time. I wondered if he surprised himself or it was only me who was shell shocked as his lips pressed gently against my own. Soft. They were indeed so, but they also burned against my own, leaving them prickling when he pulled away It felt just like my foot getting stabbed by pins and needles when it fell asleep.

After his lips were gone, I only got the chance to sputter out, "Wh-what," before snap! Blackout. I couldn't see anything. But... that wasn't all. I couldn't smell that same delicious scent that I had actually grown accustomed to in the past few minutes. I couldn't feel the heat or the drifting air. For a second, I thought I couldn't breathe at all, but after one panicked inhale that was disproven. Yet, more frightening than the possible lack of air or the seemingly endless darkness was the fact that I couldn't feel Antonio's chest just a few inches from my own.

Before I could let out the terrified cry of his name that was bubbling in my throat, even this melted away.

-Skippy-

"Ugh... fuck me..."

Not again... Why did it have to happen every fucking night? It was not the kind of dream I wanted to keep on waking up from.

As I tried to raise up my hand I was alerted to something pinning it down. All I could tell was that it was warm and only held down my left arm. Rubbing my tired eyes with my right fist instead, I turned my head towards the weight and jumped as I saw the auburn equivalent of Cousin It. Then, I let out an angry sigh through my nose as I realized it was merely fratellino with his hair falling past his eyes.

With my only usable hand -he was laying on my goddamn arm- I combed the hair out of his face. What some people might consider loving words were coupled with my usual dose of bitter asshole. "Bastard, you need a fucking haircut."

Of course he didn't wake up. Goddamn heavy sleeper.

There was someone who could wake up anyone up in his house, a voice that was gruff and commanding that had you shouting out your responses to him like he was a drill sergeant or something. I wondered how much such a job paid, because Ludwig should seriously look into it.

At the bang on our door, Feli's eyes snapped open. At the gruff order to get up, my brother shot out of bed, eyes the widest I'd seen them. "Time to meet the rest of the Familie."

At _this,_ my face was cold.

_**And that's it folks! I'm so happy I could update for you guys! I hope you are as well! Sorry it took so long... It's summer now so, we can only hope I'll be faster with the next chapter~! I love you guys and **_**all _of your insane reviewing. Seriously, you guys buried me for a moment. I almost drowned~ THANK YOU SO MUCH! Please, for the love of god, do not stop!_**

**_Thank you, thank you so very much!_**


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